During my vacation from my regularly scheduled blog posts, I spent some time thinking about what direction I want to take this blog, what my goals are for it over the next few months and how I can possibly reach those goals.
That lead to me thinking about what my mission statement should be for my scheduled blogs. Which got me thinking harder and took me down a few paths that I backed right out of before taking more than one or two steps more than I wanted to.
I started doing a weekly feature because
A) I wanted to drive more traffic to my blog and hopefully further on to my Etsy shops, TMCPhoto and PeanutButterPie.
B) I wanted to showcase some of the artists that really caught my eye while browsing through Etsy
and
C) I wanted to send out some positive Etsy Karma and hopefully help some of these incredibly talented artists and artisans make a sale here and there; the idea being what goes around comes around. If I can help a fellow Etsian add to their income the positive energy would make its way back towards me.
I can honestly say that A has been achieved. My weekly 5 question features garners the highest traffic to my blog each week, sometimes in record numbers. There are one or two features that still get heavy hits. B, it goes without saying is also a goal well met. All my features are of people who's work I adore, In some cases they have work that I have paid for and in others they have work that I would gladly fork over cash for if I had it to spend. C was a bit of a tricky goal, I mean how do you know if something you've posted online has directly resulted in a sale unless the buyer or the seller lets you know. Fortunately In the case of my feature on TubbyTabby this was the case. I can't tell you how tickled I was to have had a hand in making a sale.
My goals for the next few months are more of the same with a little more thought put into it. I'm putting a little bit more lead time ahead of each live posting, hoping to have posts written, linked and ready to go live well ahead of schedule so that I'm not scrambling (yes even working two weeks in advance I was scrambling at some points) and in the case of unexpected speed bumps I'll have some wriggle room and possible ready to go features to tide me over until I can get back up to speed.
Abiding by a feature mission statement meant I've had to create one:
5 questions is a fun look into the mind of an Etsy artist or artisan who's work is something that I personally love. the work has to be something that I would buy for myself or as a gift, have bought for myself or as a gift or have on my personal wish list. The 5 questions asked will range from a growing list of questions I keep on file, chosen at random based on what I want to know about my chosen artist.
Making sure that I remind my readers that they can connect to any item featured in the post by clicking on it's image is also on my list. When I write up my features I always, always always link back not only to the Etsy shop but also to any of the items I've used to illustrate the feature with. In the few cases where the feature artist has requested or provided images that are not for sale in their Etsy shop I link to an appropriate Flickr page or personal website. In any case you can always click on an image of something you like to get more information.
Also a to do is a re-write of my request to feature convo. This is just something for me to help keep me organized. Asking for images and links to websites, blogs and fan pages so I'm not forgetting anything when I start to write.
With this post I'm priming the pump for the return of 5 questions next week. Next weeks feature is an artist and designer that I'm pleased to say falls into the category of some one I have bought from. I came across her while browsing Totally Tutorials blog exchange program. I liked her work so much, felt so inspired what she was offering and immediately had a handful of good ideas for projects that I applied for her exchange. Those ideas for a tutorial really got me excited and I happened to be in a particularly productive stage, I couldn't wait to see who would be accepted for the exchange and I bought a few sheets before she could even post her picks.......
But more about that next week.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Total Pageviews
Popular Posts
-
The Spiral Dance was last night and I'm still processing. It was a great night full of magic and mystery and I'm so glad I went. My ...
-
So after a number of random posts over a few months I finally feel up to the challenge of a regular blog feature, one that will hopefully he...
-
It seems that I'm at the point in my blogging travels that I'm being approached to test out products and tell you what I think of t...
-
Last time I showed you how to find the direction your paper grain runs in your paper to optimize for the best fold for a hand bound book. n...
-
This house was not always so tall. Once it was a simple bungalow shared by a group of deep thinking philosophers. These learned people woul...
-
I started following Eyelah's (otherwise known as Ayla) blog way back when it was mainly in support of her jewelry shop on Etsy, AAlexan...
-
I found this over on the Pagan Mom Blog and again at Hello Better Than Ever! ~Copy and paste the questions to your blog ~Then Tag 5 or mor...
-
last night. I've been playing with the idea of taking a workshop at Blim for quite a while now. Last week I finally got around to regis...
-
one of my favourites too. I'm sure there's an official name for it but I'm not aware of it or can't think of it in my first ...
-
Miranda and Daddy sharing crackers with Goldie and Dolphin This is the sweet phrase my daughter has taken to saying if she wants her name pr...
1 comment:
I'm looking forward to seeing how this new direction pans out!
:--)
Post a Comment